The Most Expensive College Football Teams At The Ticket Booth In 2013

After a magical 2012, Notre Dame football came back to earth in January 2013 with their disappointing BCS title game loss to Alabama. Despite being on the wrong side of one of the biggest BCS title blowouts ever—not to mention the off-field Manti T’eo weirdness--Irish football spirits--as measured by the average secondary market price for Notre Dame’s eight home games--have not weakened. In our third-annual TiqIQ Top 25 College Football price ranking, Notre Dame football tickets (#1) are the most expensive in the nation.

After finishing last year with the third most expensive average ticket price in the country, Notre Dame’s average price of $293 is $47 more than the second most expensive team, Ohio State. Notre Dame also had the third largest percentage increase in their average price of any team, at 43%. This increase trails only Mississippi State (#15) that had an increase of 49.63%.

With many teams switching conferences, it’s pretty surprising that none of those teams have seen the benefit of a new conference on demand like Texas A&M. The average price for Texas A&M football tickets (#5) has risen 50% since they joined the SEC last season. In the 2011 Pre-Season TiqIQ top 25, A&M ranked 21st in the country with an average price of $136. This year, they are one of five teams with an average price above $200, due in large part to home games against Alabama and Auburn.

As is the case in the AP Top 25, the SEC is the best-represented division in the TiqIQ Top 25, with seven schools showing up. Of those, Alabama football tickets (#8) are only the fourth most expensive in the conference, behind LSU (#7), UGA (#6) and A&M. After the SEC, The Big Ten has the biggest share of the TiqIQ Top 25, with five schools showing up in the pre-season rankings. Of these, Ohio State football tickets (#2) are $16 more expensive than Michigan football tickets (#3), that average $230 for the season. With a number two AP ranking, Ohio State fans seem to be getting a much better value for their money compared to Michigan, a program that starts the season ranked number 17 in the AP poll. That said, a large part of their price increase in 2013 is being driven in large part by two games: Ohio State and Notre Dame. For anyone that’s a fan of college football, those games will be worth every penny.

In addition to on-the-field performance, off-the-field drama can have a significant impact on where a team ranks in the TiqIQ top 25. Case in point is Penn State, who over the last three years has gone from number 6, to 12, to 18 this year. Penn State is one of ten unranked AP teams in the TiqIQ top 25. Iowa Hawkeye tickets (#9) are the most expensive of any unranked AP team, at an average price of $166. The Hawkeyes are followed by other unranked teams Washington (#13), Mississippi State (#15), Tennessee (#17), Penn State (#18), USC (#19), and Missouri (#25).

While the pre-season rankings say a lot about what has happened last season and in the recruiting off-season, the fun of college football is hanging on for the twists and turns that come when you least expect them. Last year, Texas A&M started off the season at number seven in our ranking, with prices driven up by new SEC opponents. At the 2012 SEC media day, the Aggies were picked to finish fifth in the SEC west, and no one had any idea how good Johnny Manziel was. By the time he beat ‘Bama in Tuscaloosa, Johnny football was a household name and A&M was the hottest ticket in the nation. In 2013, the spotlight is on Manziel and everyone is interested to see how he responds…if he has a chance to play. If he doesn’t, another storyline will emerge to capture the college football world’s attention. When it does, it will scramble the BCS in ways that no one predicted, and ticket prices will rise and fall along with National Title dreams.

I'm the CEO of TiqIQ.com, which is the leading ticket search engine online. I started my professional career as a writer covering New York technology in 1996. I've been fascinated by the ticket market from a young age and remember trying to understand what drove the market i...